How quickly we forget. Barely
three months ago, the U.S. Gulf Coast was ravaged by multiple hurricanes
that wreaked immense damage on our citizens homes and neighborhoods,
as well as on many businesses. Those folks are still trying to put their
communities and lives back together, and thanks to the generosity of
the American people, and of some other nations’ residents, we get news
of the great progress that is being made. An earlier Factoid addressed
the event, but now that some time has passed, it is time to look back
and assess the doom and gloom predictions that gushed endlessly from
the all-knowing reporters and television talk show hosts and guests.

Even before the storms hit, we were informed with utter certainty
that if the damage was as bad as predicted, America and the therefore
the world would be thrust unavoidably into a major recession, and that
inflation due to the cost of getting goods to market caused by higher
fuel costs would usher in a wave of business men (and maybe women this
time around) jumping from building windows and bridges not seen since
the Great Depression of 1929. $100 per barrel oil would be upon us by
year’s end, and nothing – not even tapping the national oil reserves
– could be done to stop it. Finally, all those stored up and never used
Y2K supplies would be justified; just don’t let you neighbors know you
have them.

Predictably, greedy people exploited the gullibility
of the sheeple that mindlessly followed the lead of the entirely trustworthy
(cough) newspaper, magazine and television reporters and guests. Local
gas stations, just as they did the day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
immediately increased the price of gasoline and diesel even though the
supplies in their underground tanks had been purchase days or weeks
earlier. Then they continued to abuse us for weeks afterward, even after
the national oil reserves were opened and the inane practice of brewing
30 different types of gasoline was condensed into about a dozen (freeing
up refinery capacity). It literally took an act of Congress to shame
oil companies into backing off, and on international dealings with the
terrorist-supporting OPEC nations to reduce the price of crude oil.

In spite of all the nay-saying and the Chicken Littles running around
telling us that the sky is falling, once again the American people demonstrated
their collective will and pulled through the disasters in a remarkable
manner. In spite of all the outright lying by reporters about racial
factors preventing rescue efforts from being carried out and finger
pointing by politicians trying to lay blame for not being abundantly
prepared, the people of the country have rolled up their sleeves and
are getting the job done. Even though the media have done their very
best to talk us into a financial malaise and civil discontent, reports
out on consumer confidence, employment, housing and many other key indicators
continue to be positive.

For some reason, the media in this country
has a vested interest in seeing to it that we suffer unthinkable misery
just to prove that the president is no good. Make no mistake about it
– that is their motivation. It boggles the mind how a group of people
whose own livelihoods and freedoms are dependent upon the economy doing
well would willingly work to undermine the good of their own countrymen
both at home and on foreign soil. So, the next time you are watching
or listening to your favorite news reporter or reporterette broadcast
his or her version of the news, keep in mind just how utterly wrong
he or she was about the hurricane aftermath and for that matter about
an awful lot of other issues over the years. Those people do not report
the news, they insert their personal agendas in a manner that seeks
to persuade viewers or listeners to conform to their own worldviews.
Remember that according to the majority of them, by now you should be
sitting in your house with the blinds closed, protecting your store
of food and fending off looters, and paying more than $5 per gallon
for gasoline. I just filled up my Tracer’s gas tank for $1.95 per gallon.

My suggestion for a cure is to have every news purveyor publicly
publish a full disclosure statement listing his or her political affiliation,
how he or she votes in national elections, and memberships with or participation
in any politically-oriented group. Doing so will allow everyone who
takes the trouble to investigate the newscaster’s background to judge
how much of what is being said is unbiased reporting. It is impossible
for these reporters of events to check their own personal biases at
the door when formulating their presentations. Some truth in advertising
is in order.

A huge collection of my 'Factoids' can be accessed from my 'Kirt's Cogitations'
table of contents.

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